A legal checklist for what a trade secrets protection plan should include

It’s axiomatic that without steps implemented to protect it, a trade secret has no value. Using lessons learned from the courts, Epstein and Levi in lay out steps trade secret owners should take to audit their protection plan. (First reported by Jon Cavicchi of UNH.)

Put the company's trade secrets policy in writing: Simply stated, “it is easier to persuade a court that the company viewed its security procedures as a primary concern if security policies are reduced to writing.”

Inform employees not only of the policy but of the trade secrets: “If an employee is unaware that he or she has access to a trade secret, the employee may have little legal obligation to maintain secrecy.” The authors warn not to overextend here. An employee who thinks all of the information is secret is unlikely to take seriously efforts to protect any of it.

Remind employees of the trade secrets, the policy, and their obligations under the policy on a periodic basis.

Have employees sign an agreement “acknowledging that (i) they have access to trade secret information; (ii) the company is sufficiently protecting that information; (iii) they will not, and have not, disclosed or misappropriated that information; and (iv) they will report to the company all unauthorized disclosures or uses of the trade secret information.”